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Friday, March 16, 2012

Past GT essay - Some people think that secondary school students should study academic subjects (such as history and physics). While others believe they should study practical subjects (such as car machinery and cookery). Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Some individuals are of the opinion that secondary school curricula should have academic subjects such as history and physics where as others opine that students should study practical subjects like car machinery and cookery. This essay shall look at both arguments before forming a conclusion.

Those who wish academic subjects in the school syllabus say that academic subjects have withstood the test of time. They represent the accumulated wisdom of our ancestors down through the ages, and equip us with the knowledge and confidence to make sound judgments about any problems which may crop up. Secondly, they say that it is the duty of parents, not teachers, to prepare their children to deal with the practical affairs of life. The home, not the classroom, is the ideal place to learn about cookery and car machinery. Finally, schooldays devoted solely to instruction of practical matters would be dull indeed. Lessons in diverse subjects such as literature, science, geography and mathematics add spice to school life.

Those in favour of practical subjects such as car machinery and cookery opine that the subjects taught in schools tend to be too academic, and contribute little to preparing a young person for the real-life tasks he or she will have to perform after graduation. They say that academic subjects are rooted in the past, and are not useful for solving modern problems.

On balance, I believe that we need to provide young people the best possible chance of doing well at school. In traditional curriculum there should be a wide variety of subjects with a mix of academic and non-academic subjects. In this way a young person is formed with a rounded education. Car machinery, however, is not needed at school level. Non-academic subjects would include sports, cooking and music. I believe this is the best form of education. A young person should also learn things other than academic subjects.

To conclude, secondary school curriculum with only academic or only practical subjects is not good. It should be a combination of both for the holistic development of the student.

2 comments:

Some people say that violent computer games teach young people that criminal behaviour is appropriate and enjoyable. Others say that these games actually teach that such acts are highly dangerous and have serious consequences.. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

There is a school of thought which contends that aggressive and harmful digital role play scenarios educate young people that anti-social acts are allowable as well as being relaxing. Conversely, their opponents argue that such games, in fact, demonstrate that these kind of offensive actions tend to be significantly hazardous and therefore have severe negative effects. I have to say I concur with latter view.To begin with, it is abundantly clear that games with this type of content draw mass attention from larger portion of audience due to fact that they are stress buster for significant number of players. Participants can feel sense of achievement and not guilty after destroying number of properties. This is not possible in real life as user has to face laws followed by punishments.At the other end of the spectrum, the overwhelming majority of players show sign of having been inappropriately influenced by such playoffs. Because of their deep indulgence into the games, they tend to forgot difference between actual world and gaming world. Their games actions become their habit and later on their character.In my personal experience, I have seen many of my friends, who were very calm and collected, got harmfully impacted after playing Grant Theft Auto game.The situation relating to this matter in my country, Australia, is very typical at the way the things are elsewhere in the world. It is no doubt a difficult situation but finding effective solution is no easy matter.At the end of the day, when all is said and done, I pen down saying that ferocious games have not role to play in our society due to its extremely bad impact on people’s attitude and character. If all the people in the world who played violent games went out and committed major crimes, our prison would be overcrowded with doctors, students and parents.